IT Identity and Risk in Software Development

Abstract

Software project failure continues to be a concern and managing risk our best hope of project success. While IS literature has investigated the role of culture in projects, such cultural work is largely limited to the management of multinational project work and focused on ethnic or national identities and their impact on enterprise-level system development. Recently, information systems researchers have begun to focus on how a user’s identities—their internalization of cultural meaning—can affect adoption and use of technology, but identification with technology may also impact its development. This study examines the ways in which worker identification with the technological outcome of a project affects team member attitudes and behaviors and, therefore, the project’s risk profile. The results inform both theory and practice, contributing to IT identity research as well as best practices for project and risk management in software development.